AlexVI Wrote:
That's a little O/T, but back on topic, I also agree that mastering facilities with high overheads have a place to stay, too. Abbey Road, Metropolis, and others in the UK often seem busy on the occasions I've been working there, and I don't think they're too empty the rest of the time...
I've also thought for a while that the greater the amount of home / budget recording that goes on, the greater a lot of artists are going to feel the need to go somewhere really nice to have it made better at the end of the day...
Home/budget recordist by in large are cheap. That is why they want to do everything themselves, somehow convincing themselves that spending 6 to 10 thousand dollars on a studio full of equipment is better than going to a real recording studio and getting their stuff professionally recorded. There is also, of course, the musician that wants total control over all the processes that go into making his or her music and is willing to do what it takes to have that control including spending a lot of money on equipment that he or she does not know how to operate just do they can "do their thing". Neither of these types are going to go to a place like Abbey Road to get their material mastered. It is not in their genes to spend money so someone else can do their mastering.
I think that the day of the very large multi-room mastering facility is going away very quickly. The business model is just wrong for today's music climate. It worked in the old days because with vinyl you had to go to someone who had a lathe and knew how to operate it and you had so many more people needing their services.
Today with digital recording for CDs and web casting there is no need for the musicians to go out of their houses. ANYONE can do recording and mixing in their bedroom or basement and can also "master" their own recordings and have it pressed, duplicated or put up on the WWW without involving another human being, (except for the people doing the actual production of the CD). Big expensive to maintain multi room facilities are, excuse the French, pass